Summary: A working mixer's real, 12-point checklist for prepping and sending stems, from naming files properly to zipping the whole folder, so your mix comes back faster and closer to what you heard in your head.
Every mix starts the same way: a folder of stems lands in an engineer's inbox. How that folder is organized can add hours to the job, or save them. Check these before you hit send.
- Name your tracks properly. "Audio 14.wav" tells nobody anything. Group them together, "drums - Kick, Drums snare etc", and Lead Vocal Verse 1/2/3.wav" is informative and helps them load up in their respective groups. A mixer shouldn't have to solo everything just to work out what they're listening to.
- Export at full length, same start point. Every stem should start and end at the same point in the timeline, even the ones with long gaps of silence. Trimmed, mismatched stems are the single biggest cause of mixing delays as we will literally send them back to you lol.
- Bounce without effects, unless the effect is the point. Generally, I want lead vocal and kick/snare dry. Everything else is up to you. If a specific delay or distortion is part of the creative vision, leave it on and say so. I can always ask for a new stem with/without effect.
- Watch your levels before exporting. Stems don't need to be loud, they need headroom. Anything clipping in your session will clip in the mix.
- Include a reference mix or rough bounce. A quick reference of how you imagined the song, even a phone recording of an idea, tells the mixer more about your intent than a page of notes.
- List any specific references and requests up front. I like the drums and bass in this song, or the vocal mix in this other one is really helpful. Along side "Keep the vocal upfront," "make the chorus hit harder," whatever matters to you. Mixers aren't mind readers, and vague notes lead to more revision rounds than clear ones.
- Double-check your sample rate and bit depth. Wav files at 16 or 24-bit, 44.1kHz or 48kHz, are standard. Mixed rates across stems cause playback issues that are easy to avoid and annoying to fix after the fact.
- Send comps, not every single take. One good comped vocal beats fifteen raw takes. If you genuinely can't decide, flag it, don't just dump everything and hope.
- Mention if anything is an AI-generated element. AI vocals, AI drums, or a fully AI-generated demo you want turned into a real production all need slightly different handling. Flagging it upfront means fewer surprises for both of you.
- Leave volume and panning on. The best place for a mix engineer to start is where you left off, otherwise that drum that was really quiet on your mix might come back as the main event. (True story, this happened to me sending a mix to legendary mixer Tom Elmhirst 15 years ago.) Don't let it happen to you!
- Zip your files. Please, please compress them into one file. Downloading 37 separate tracks into my downloads folder is a sure-fire way for something to get lost.
- If you're not sure, ask. This stuff is complicated and it throws even seasoned heads. A quick message before you export saves everyone a revision round later.
Get these right and your mix comes back faster, cleaner, and closer to what you heard in your head.